cartel: a loose association of businesses that make the same product. Members of a cartel often agree to limit the supply of their product and thus keep prices high. Cartels are not foolproof: they tend to fall apart during hard economic times. Members sometimes cheat and produce more than their quota, thus undermining the inflated price. OPEC is an oil cartel.
There are private and public cartels. Private cartels are expected to use legal liability because of the antitrust laws. On the other hand, public cartels have the government choose their legal liability. Tyler Valastro 8EP-1 9:20